Following years of hostility, secret meetings held in Norway in 1993 between the PLO and Israel led to the signing of the historic Declaration of Principles (the Oslo Accords), in which the two sides agreed to mutual recognition and terms whereby governing functions in the West Bank and Gaza—occupied by Israel since the Arab-Israeli war of 1967—would be progressively handed over to a Palestinian council. During that time—in what generally came to be known as the Oslo process—Israel and the Palestinians were to negotiate a permanent peace treaty to settle on the final status of these territories. The agreements between the sides called for the PA to take control over most population areas in the occupied territories. Security for those areas would rest with the Palestinian police, although Israelis would be guaranteed freedom of movement. Several militant Islamic groups, particularly Ḥamās, denounced the peace agreement.

The first Israeli withdrawals took place in 1994. That same year the PA assumed control of many civil functions. Elections were held in PA-administered areas in 1996 for the presidency and the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC). PLO chairman Yāsir ʿArafāt was elected president easily, and his Fatah party gained a majority of seats within the PLC. In 2003 the post of prime minister was established, and Mahmoud Abbas became the first person to occupy the office. ʿArafāt remained president until his death in 2004; he was succeeded as both chairman of the PLO and as president of the PA by Abbas. During a summit in early 2005, Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon agreed to suspend hostilities, ostensibly ending the Aqṣā intifada, a violent Palestinian uprising that had begun in 2000. In September 2005 Israel completed its troop withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, and the PA assumed control of the territory. Elections for the PLC were held in 2006, and Ḥamās won a surprise victory over Fatah. Ḥamās and Fatah eventually formed a coalition government, but violence between their forces escalated in the Gaza Strip. After a week of fighting, Ḥamās forces defeated Fatah forces and took control of the Gaza Strip, leading Abbas to dissolve the Ḥamās-led government and declare a state of emergency in June 2007.

After a four-year schism, during which Ḥamās and Fatah governed separately in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, respectively, officials announced in April 2011 that Ḥamās and Fatah had reached a reconciliation agreement in negotiations mediated by Egypt. The plan, signed in Cairo on May 4, called for the formation of an interim government ahead of presidential and legislative elections that were to be held in 2012. After months of negotiations over the leadership of the interim government, the two parties announced in February 2012 that they had selected Abbas for the post of interim president.

After a round of direct talks between Israel and the PA in 2010 quickly broke down over the construction of Israeli settlements in the West Bank, Abbas shifted his efforts toward gaining international recognition for a Palestinian state. In September 2011 he submitted a request to the UNSecurity Council asking for the admission of an independent Palestinian state to the UN. The action—which was opposed by Israel and the United States—had become necessary, he argued, because the U.S.-mediated peace negotiations had placed too little pressure on Israel to make concessions for peace. The bid for recognition by the Security Council stalled when it became clear that the United States would veto it and that several other members would abstain from voting.

A year after the failure of the Palestinian bid for full membership in the UN, Abbas announced that he would seek the UN General Assembly’s implicit recognition of Palestinian statehood by submitting a draft resolution requesting that the status of the Palestinian mission to the UN (officially called Palestine within the UN) be upgraded from “permanent observer” to “nonmember observer state.” The designation, though falling short of full UN membership, would allow Palestinians to seek membership in international bodies such as the International Criminal Court. The resolution passed on November 29, 2012, with 138 countries in favour, 9 opposed, and 41 abstentions. The resolution also urged Israel and the Palestinians to resume stalled negotiations toward a two-state solution. Israeli officials opposed Abbas’s bid for recognition, saying that such unilateral actions by the Palestinians would hold up negotiations with Israel.